Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Culture
  3. Evergreens

The Diplomat season 2: New cast members and more

We've got the scoop on The Diplomat season 2!

By
Keri Russell in The Diplomat.
Netflix

Although The Diplomat arrived with little fanfare in 2023, it has earned its place among the best shows on Netflix. For her first TV series since FX’s critically acclaimed Cold War drama, The Americans, Keri Russell was cast in the leading role as Kate Wyler, the new U.S. Ambassador to Britain. Unlike Russell’s previous role on The Americans, Kate’s not the kind of character who is going to get any action scenes. But there’s more than enough intrigue on this show to keep fans excited about its return.

And that return may be closer than you think. That’s why we’ve put together this guide to everything we know about The Diplomat season 2, including the first new cast member to join the show.

Recommended Videos

What is The Diplomat about?

Keri Russell in The Diplomat.
Netflix

In a case of art imitating reality, The Diplomat begins with high tensions between the United States and Iran, especially when the latter is seemingly behind an attack on a British aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. That’s the tumultuous situation that Kate walks into when she’s named the new U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Kate is accompanied by her husband and fellow diplomat, Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell), whose career has stalled. More tellingly, the relationship between Kate and Hal is clearly strained. Additionally, Kate isn’t initially aware that she is under consideration to be the next Vice President of the United States of America. Assuming, of course, that Kate can keep the tensions in Britain from boiling over into an international incident that leads to a new war.

What happened in The Diplomat season 1 finale?

Rory Kinnear in The Diplomat.
Netflix

Kate correctly deduced that Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge was the real mastermind behind the attack at the beginning of the series in order to push the United Kingdom towards war with Iran. However, before Kate could put this knowledge to use, her husband, Hal, Deputy Chief of Mission Stuart Hayford (Ato Essandoh), office clerk Ronnie (Jess Chanliau), and MP Merritt Grove (Simon Chandler) were all caught in a car bomb explosion. Whether anyone survived that attack is the cliffhanger that The Diplomat ended its first season.

Who’s coming back for The Diplomat season 2?

David Gyasi and Keri Russell in The Diplomat.
Netflix

Russell is reprising her role as Kate Wyler for the second season. As noted above, the cliffhanger ending left the fate of the characters portrayed by Sewell, Essandoh, Chanliau, and Chandler in doubt. However, the following cast members are likely to reappear:

  • David Gyasi as Austin Dennison
  • Ali Ahn as Eidra Park
  • Rory Kinnear as U.K. Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge
  • Celia Imrie as Margaret Roylin
  • Miguel Sandoval as Miguel Ganon
  • Nana Mensah as Billie Appiah
  • Michael McKean as President William Rayburn
  • T’Nia Miller as Cecilia Dennison

Who’s joining the cast of The Diplomat season 2?

Allison Janney in Mom.
Warner Bros. Television

So far, Netflix has only announced a single cast addition for The Diplomat season 2, but it’s a big one. Allison Janney has signed on to play Grace Penn, the Vice President of the United States of America. Vice President Penn was mentioned a few times during the first season. And if the efforts to make Kate the new Vice President are successful, then she is the woman whom Kate will replace under President Rayburn.

Janney is best known for playing C. J. Cregg on The West Wing, as well as for her leading role as Bonnie Plunkett on the sitcom, Mom. Janney won Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama and Best Actress in a Drama for The West Wing, in addition to a win for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy for Mom. Additionally, Janney won Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards in 2019 for her role in I, Tonya.

When will The Diplomat season 2 premiere?

Keri Russell in The Diplomat.
Netflix

Despite the fact that six months of production time were lost in 2023 to the writers and actors strikes, Netflix has good news for fans of The Diplomat. Netflix has indicated that The Diplomat season 2 will premiere in 2024. Regardless, we believe a late 2024 return is more likely than a summer premiere for the show.

Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Blair Marnell is a freelance writer for The Manual, Digital Trends, Fandom, Yahoo Entertainment, and more! Read Full Bio
Topics
Culture
Jack Bauer changed the landscape of television 25 years ago this month: We look back on ’24’
24

It is a rainy weekend here in New York City. That means it is the perfect time to sit back, turn on the TV, and get lost in a great show. While there are hundreds of newer series you could jump into on Netflix, Prime, Paramount, Hulu, Max, Apple TV, etc., I think it is more appropriate to look at the show that paved the way for all of them: 24. And let’s not forget the main character, who created the on-screen template for characters like Jack Reacher, Jack Ryan, and James Reece, Jack Bauer.

Is it a little overdramatic to say that 24 and Jack Bauer paved the way, or built the template, for the series we love today? Maybe. Is it entirely appropriate to attribute that overdramatic thought to a show that is by and large overdramatic? Absolutely. But here is the truth that any 24 fan will tell you: there are a handful of things commonplace today in the television landscape that weren’t that way until this series did them. And there was never a television character like Jack Bauer, until Jack Bauer made everyone want more characters like Jack Bauer. Do you see what I am saying? No? Ok, fine, here are four ways the series and its lead changed TV forever.

Read more
Culture
The Manual Library: 10 action franchises to pass the cold weekends
Cross

Guys need to read more. Every time I start doomscrolling on TikTok or Instagram, the BookTok world is almost exclusively curated for women. That is why we need to start pushing our love for the bang-bang shoot-’em-ups. The debonair spy. The man on his own, cut off from all help, with only his skills and his wits to help him overcome the obstacles between him and his mission. As men, we love these escapes from the mundane lives and diving into the hero fantasy we all have. When women talk about the mental load they carry every day, men are usually creating our own mental load with safety and security: “What would I do if someone attacked from here? Or there?” Really, what we’re asking is, “What would Jason Bourne do?”

I tend to live in this place in my head when I need to escape from the world, but it is more fun to read about it. As the weather begins to turn and our evenings and weekends are colder and darker, we need something to occupy our time to get us from now until we can escape to the great outdoors in the spring. Here are some action and adventure book recommendations to get your heart going and quench that hero fantasy without doing anything dangerous.

Read more
Culture
5 lessons the military teaches you that you don’t learn in school
Saving Private Ryan

This is not a knock on public school. I went to public school. I liked public school. There is a system of life training built into the social fabric of school where we learn a lot about ourselves and the lives we are about to live. But the truth is we don’t learn a lot about life from the actual curriculum in the classroom. We learn that Paul Revere rode through the streets to alarm everyone that the British were coming. We learned that A squared plus B squared equals C squared. We even learned what an electron is. But there are precious little practical life lessons you can take with you. For me, I picked a lot of those through movies (a lot of parents are shaking their heads right now, but don’t knock it completely; there is a lot you can learn from movie perspectives) and my time in the United States Army.

The military teaches you a ton of practical life skills that will elevate your life when applied to your day-to-day. Here are five of them with a couple bonuses at the end.

Read more